Tiger by the Tail [Hardcover]

This book demonstrates how a 5-star author can still produce a 1-star book. I bought the e-Arc (electronic Advanced Reader Copy) the day it came out. I wish I'd bought the Honor Harrington book instead!!!!
EVERYTHING John Ringo writes is an automatic buy for me. DON"T BUY THIS BOOK!!! You will get the wrong impression of what John Ringo can do with words. Start with Ghost by John Ringo, then the rest of this series, please, to maximize your reading pleasure. Try anything else by Ringo and be prepared to be addicted to his writing. Buy Live Free or Die, The Hot Gate, and Citadel and you will read them 2 or 3 times the first year! Buy The Last Centurion and you will cheer! Buy Into the Looking Glass, Manxome Foe, Vorpal Blade, and Claws that Catch for way more value than the money spent! (Beware the CLICK) AND HE HAS EVEN MORE BOOKS WHEN YOU NEED MORE RINGO! But, hopefully, no more like this one.

I hate to write this, as I am a serious Ringo fan and want him to get fabulously wealthy for his efforts that have given me so many hours of reading enjoyment. I just LOVE his work, and the Paladin of the Shadows series is on my all-time fav list. Ghost and Kildar easily rank 5 stars IMO. This one, however, is NOT representative of Mr. Ringo's work! It is also NOT representative of the Paladin series! The characters are all totally out-of-character and it's written like a parody of the other works in the series.

I've never given a 2 star review before, as I prefer to not say anything if I can't say anything good, but wanted to warn any new potential fans out there to NOT take this as representative of this author's work!

I will continue to buy anything under the Ringo name, but this is a warning to anyone who gets this one - do NOT judge this book by the John Ringo cover! It's obviously written by the co-author, who I hope to not hear anything from in the future.

I fervently hope that this does not cause the series to languish, but that we can look forward to further battles of the forces of evil with Mike Harmon and his faithful retainers. The whole world can sleep easier knowing that the Kildar is on the job!

Gordon

This is a John Ringo book similar to recent works by Tom Clancy. Sure, the name is on the cover, but you have to wonder if there was actually any direct input by the original author.

I went back and re-read through the Paladin of Shadows series in preparation for this book. After a five year absence, I was eager to dive back into the world of the Ghost. This book, however, leaves me with decidedly mixed feelings, especially since the old books were so fresh in my mind.

The old characters are stilted, and feel like parodies of themselves, several times doing things that were so far out of character that I had to go back an re-read the names. One incident in particular comes to mind, when one of the central characters that has been around since Kildar (Paladin of Shadows Book 2) uses an old nickname for someone that has never once before been used.
On the other hand, the new characters are bland and uninventive, as if the writer took the established tropes of the Keldara as "beautiful" and "highly skilled" and left it at that, with few personality quirks that make the reader care about these people.

The plot is what saves this boat from completely capsizing. It's a fine techno-thriller, especially since the old tropes of saving the world from rogue nukes can start to wear thin. It's nice to see something else equally dangerous but less often used take the spotlight. But it doesn't have that extra Ringo magic that turns it into a first-class roller coaster ride.

Who is this Ryan Sear? What has he written in the past that qualifies him to step in and take the reins on such a beloved series? A quick search on the Baen website only shows this one book under his author credits, and any deeper digging turns up very little. What happened to great co-authors like David Weber or Travis S. Taylor? Sure, they have their own careers to think about, but if the only other option is this poor fan-fiction quality imitation, I'd rather have waited another five years.

A misstep by Mr. Ringo, to be sure. I can only hope that he will learn from his mistakes in handing off one of his most prized creations to an amateur so that one day the Ghost may rise again.